Leviticus 26:23

"And if by these things ye will not be reformed unto me, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary to you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant; and ye shall be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the land of the enemy. When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied."

"And if by these things ye will not be reformed unto me ..." The significance of this is that all of the terrible judgments here mentioned as being sent upon his rebellious children were benign in their purpose. They were intended to discipline and rebuke the people and bring them back to God. Can it not be any less true today that great disasters that fall upon people are for the purpose of returning them to God whom they have forsaken? This same benign purpose is visible in all of the judgments upon mankind typified in Revelation under the symbols of the seals, the trumpets, and the vials of the wrath of God (Revelation 6-16). Also implicit here is that fact that God monitors and disciplines the conduct of Adam's rebellious race. A similar thing is also visible in Ezekiel 5:12.

These verses speak of punishment in the fourth degree, and famine and starvation are features of it.

"When I break your staff of bread ..." Comment in the footnote on this in the Tyndale Bible states, "This means `to break the strength thereof, and to diminish it, so they should not have enough to live by'."[24]

"Ten women shall bake bread in one oven ..." Micklem thought this indicated the "breakup of family life,"[25] but we believe it is more accurately understood as an indication that food would be so scarce that the rations for ten families could be prepared in a single oven. The mention of their bread being given to them "by weight" makes this almost certain. It will be remembered that the black horse of famine in the Apocalypse through the apostle John, carried a balance in his hand, and a voice was heard saying, "A measure of wheat for a shilling, and three measures of barley for a shilling." (Revelation 6:6).